Portland Grabs 6-1 Win Over Eastern

Freshman Mario Navarro rallies back after dropping first set to record only EWU win of the day at No. 2 singles

The Eastern Washington University men's tennis team could not get past Portland, falling 6-1 to the Pilots on Saturday (Jan. 29) evening in Portland, Ore.

The Eagles, now 2-3 on the season, will have one more dual match before they open conference play next Sunday (Feb. 6) at Northern Colorado. Eastern will play at Air Force the day before.

The Pilots earned the first point of the day after winning all three doubles matches by the exact same score of 8-4.

Sophomore Fernando Mussolini, the reigning Big Sky Player of the Week, had a good effort at No. 1 singles, but eventually fell to UP's Bryan Thorp, 6-2, 7-5.

Highlighting the singles performances was freshman Mario Navarro, who outlasted Adam Ferrero at No. 2 in the only three-set match of day. Ferrero took the first set, 6-2, but Navarro charged back to win sets two and three, 6-4, 6-4. The win was Navarro's first singles victory of the 2011 season.

Junior Stefan Simikic had a strong showing at No. 3 singles, but couldn't find a way past UP's Ratan Gill, who won 6-3, 7-6.